


like mother, like son

by dryswallow



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, the difficulties of farming in a post-nuclear dystopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 23:41:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6134073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryswallow/pseuds/dryswallow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monty's first memories of his mother are filled with light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like mother, like son

Monty's first memories of his mother are filled with light. With his hand in hers, she led him through the room where she worked. It smelled different than the rest of the ship, wet and earthy and overflowing with life. The air always felt full in his lungs; it cleared his head, made it easier to think.

“This is where our food comes from,” she told him, lifting him up so he could see into the garden. There were green things growing in the water. He could recognize the onions, the sprouts, and something dark and leafy that they ate in their salads.

“These lights,” she said, gesturing to the long strips of light above the beds, “imitate the sun. The plants need the light to grow. It gives them energy, and when we eat the plants, it gives us energy and keeps us alive.”

Monty nodded to show her he understood.

It was a beautiful system, with little going to waste. His mother explained the way plants and humans balanced each other through their exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Beside each bed of plants was a screen that documented their progress, recommending adjustments to the light, water, and fertilizer they received. His mother explained how she wrote the program and designed the sensors, improving on the past system.

“You were my inspiration,” she told him, kissing his forehead. “I wanted to do this for you – for your future on the Ark.”

His mother was happy then. Even after he and Jasper got caught and sent to the Sky Box, she smiled and praised his work when she was allowed visits (even prisoners laboured, their existence unjustifiable unless they were helping to create the food and oxygen they consumed).

Things are different on the ground.

She is still his mother. It shows in the way she helps to plan Arkadia’s farming initiatives, and listens attentively when Monty recounts what happened in Mount Weather. She is smart, and kind, and fierce, and still all the things he looked up to when he was younger.

But on the ground she smiles less. She clutches at her rifle with thin fingers, always on guard. She follows close behind Pike like a shadow. Monty watches her, taking inventory of her differences, the same way he knows that she has noticed how he has changed since landing on the ground. Her eyes seem to ache when she looks at him.

Like mother, like son.

-

Nothing is unusual that morning, until word comes. Monty wakes in the cold air, before the sun is up. He brings breakfast and water to a hungover Jasper. There are some improvements there – Jasper will actually eat the food he brings now. Baby steps, but better than nothing. And after his own breakfast is eaten, he grabs his testing kit and heads out to the grounds to continue sampling the soil around Arkadia. If they’re going to survive on Earth, they’ll need to start growing food, and soon. Some of the equipment on Argo Station was salvageable, but not enough. They have to use all the Earth has to offer them.

The samples read poorly. Monty could have guessed, from the look of the soil. He starts packing up his kit to move to another area when he sees two women also assigned to soil testing coming up the path. One of them waves at him. She’s from Argo station too, a friend of his mother’s.

“If you want to, you can take a break to go see your mom,” she says, a smile on her face. “She just got back. They got the job done.”

The words hit like a punch to the stomach.

“She was with Pike?” he asks. “This morning?”

The woman nods, smiling.

Of course she was. She follows Pike everywhere. It’s his own fault for not connecting the dots between Pike’s intentions and what his mother’s role in his plans would be.

Monty leaves his equipment and rushes towards the gates of Arkadia, where a crowd has already formed. The air around them buzzes. Kane and Abby are there, talking to Pike, but he can’t hear what they’re saying above the crowd, the wind, the pounding of blood in his ears. Bellamy is there too, a rifle clutched to his chest – Bellamy, of all people!

When he finally spots his mother, she’s already looking at him. There’s blood on her face, and across her coat, but she doesn’t look injured.

It’s someone else’s blood.

_I did this for us,_ her eyes say. _For your father. For you and your future in this place._

Monty wipes his hands on his pants, and turns away from the crowd. His lungs feel muddy, choked.

It’s done – she can’t take it back. He can’t take it back.

It is done.

**Author's Note:**

> The 100 finally gave me the agriculture subplot I was asking for, but it's not quite what I wanted. And we haven't had nearly enough of Monty reacting to the things going on around him. So I'm filling in the gaps.
> 
> Written for the "Last to Know" weekly prompt on Fandom Weekly, and first place of that week's voting session.


End file.
